Nicholas Hilliard

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Self-portrait, 1577

Nicholas Hilliard (* around 1547 in Exeter ; † January 7, 1619 in London ) was an English miniature painter and seal cutter of the Elizabethan Age . He also worked as a portrait painter. Only a few drawings by him have survived. His clients initially included Queen Elizabeth I and later Jacob I and her court nobility.

From 1562 Hilliard was trained as a goldsmith by the royal jeweler Robert Brandon ; In 1569 he was appointed master. Hilliard is considered the first English painter whose life and work are documented in more detail. Stylistically, his works show a closeness to Hans Holbein the Younger , whom he names together with Albrecht Dürer as a master in his treatise The Art of Limning , but without having known her personally.

His works of art are considered to be extremely conservative and poor in contrast , especially in comparison to the early baroque that was emerging at the same time , but they are also characterized by great emotional empathy with his models.

In 1604 he was replaced in his court position as a portrait and miniature painter by his former pupil Isaak Oliver . His numerous miniatures are now kept in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

In 1617 Nicholas Hilliard received a royal patent from James I , which made him engraver and medalist for depictions of James I and the royal family for the next 12 years . It is called the Embosser of medals in gold . The Hilliard Ensemble was named after him.

  • Elizabeth I, around 1572

  • Youth among Roses, 1588

  • Henry Percy , "The Wizard Earl", around 1594

  • Jacob I, around 1603

literature

  • Mary Edmond: Hilliard and Oliver: The Lives and Works of Two Great Miniaturists. Robert Hale, London, 1983
  • Elizabeth Goldring: Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an Artist . Yale, 2019
  • Karen Hearn (Ed.): Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630. Rizzoli, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8478-1940-X .
  • Arthur F. Kinney: Nicholas Hilliard's "Art of Limning". Northeastern University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-930350-31-6 .
  • Graham Reynolds: Nicholas Hilliard & Isaac Oliver. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1971.
  • Roy Strong : Nicholas Hilliard. Michael Joseph, London 1975, ISBN 0-7181-1301-2 .
  • Roy Strong: Artists of the Tudor Court: The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620. Exhibition catalog. Victoria & Albert Museum, 1983, ISBN 0-905209-34-6 .
  • Roy Strong: Gloriana: The Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I. Thames and Hudson, 1987, ISBN 0-500-25098-7 .

Web links

Commons : Nicholas Hilliard  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roy Strong: Nicholas Hilliard's miniature of the 'Wizard Earl'. In: Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 31, 1983, p. 56f.
  2. ^ Ellis Waterhouse: Painting in Britain, 1530-1790. Penguin, New York, 1978, p. 38.
  3. ^ L. Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists . Hilliard, Nicholas. Volume II. Spink & Son Ltd, London 1904, p. 496 ff .
personal data
SURNAME Hilliard, Nicholas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English miniature painter and seal cutter
DATE OF BIRTH around 1547
PLACE OF BIRTH Exeter
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 1619
Place of death London